Gondola car.



' T. .H'." "WATTS. GONDOLA CAR. APPLICATION FILED MAY 2 8', 1915.

1, 128,462, 7 Patented'Apr. 4, 1916.

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,4 TTORNE Y8 T. H. WATTS GONDOLA CAR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY28.!915.

Patented Apr. 4,1916.

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- nall'y extend ng parallel girders usually ar- TED STAT THOMAS HOWARD WA T TS, O F ALTOONA, PENNSYLVANIA.

' GONDOLA can.

. Application filed May 28, 1915. sensin 30,925

To all whomc't may concern Be itknown that I, THonAs H. VATTS, a citizen of thejUnited Stateshand a resident of Altoona, in the county of Blair and State of Pennsylvania, have invented-an Improvement in Gondola Cars, of which the follow ing is a v specification.

The present invention relates to gondola 'cars, and more particularly to a drop door operating and' locking mechanism.

The primary object of the invention isto saidv doors, the mechanism for such opera-- tion bein'g'so arranged that substantially a third of acomplete revolution of the operating crank is all that is required to Open. or close the doors.

Another object is the provision of mechanism for. effectively accomplishing the above results and which is simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, and which may be readily applied to gondola cars now com; monly used.

The inventive ideainvolved is capable of receiving a variety of mechanical expressions, one of which,.for the purpose of illus- 'tr-ating the invention, is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which.

Figurel is atop plan view of the mecha-.

nism for operating the doors ofthe car, the cover for said mechanismbeing removed. Fig. 2 is-a longitudinal section on the line 22 of Fi 1, showing the mechanism in position fo retaining the doors closed. Fig. 3 is a view'similar to Fig. 2 showing the mechanism in the position assumed when the doors are open. Fig. at is I alongitudinal section taken on a line outside of the sill member and looking in the Fig. 5 is a transverse section with the mechanism in end elevation, and Fig. 6 is a'detail view of the door supporting members used. in connection with the invention.

Referring more particularly to the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters indicate similar )arts, the numeral .10 indicates a pair of longitudi- "rangedcentrany of the car and provided with a cover 11 said girders and cover fornr Specification of Letters Patent. 1 Patten ted? Am. a, 1916.

ing what is commonly known as the sills.

The car. frame has pivoted thereto on the outer sides of the girders 1.0 the 'doors12 which open downwardlyin opposite directions and have their free ends meeting when 111 closed positlon, as clearly shownin F 1g.

arranged on-opposite sides of the sills and which open in the same-direction are-.connected by suitable arched door braces 13, F ig. 5, which cause the 'doors to move in unison. The mechanism which comprises the essential feature of this invention .includes a pair of oppositely disposed brackets 14 secured to the inner adjacent. faces of the girders I10 and provided with slots 15 forthe reception of the endsof a hub 17 adaptv l. The corresponding .doors '12 which are ed to rotate'between said brackets 11.11

bell crank lever 18 is preferably madeintegral with the hub- 17 and has pivotally connected to one of its arms one end of a link 19 the other end of which is pivoted at 20 to the adjacent end of a similar link '21, said adjacent ends being provided with lugs 22- adapted for engagement with each other; whereby said links are normally retainedin substantial alinement and prevented from further movement about the pivot 20 in one direction. An operating shaft 23 is transversely mounted in the sills and has one end extending beyond the side thereof :for the reception of a handle, not-shown, which is adapted to rotate said shaft for causing the Y pivoted at27 to the bell crank-lever 18 and at 28 to said doors 12. Each of the levers 26 is provided at its upper end with a substantially V-shaped portion 29 and intermediate the ends thereof the same is pro.-. vided with a curved portion 30 which forms a shoulder 31 which is adapted to engage the hub 17 so that when the doors 12 are in'closed position said'shoulder is so located that the doors connected to the lever will be supported and the line of stress will be in a plane passing- .vertically through the center of the hub. Thus the greater the weight on the-doors the more tendency there will be for'the shoulders 31 to bind against said hub and therefore the doors will be efi'ec- 'tively retained in a closed position. The

lower ends of-the levers 26 extend in opposite directions and cross each other 'as' shown in Figs.v 2 and '6. g v

In practice, the handleof the shaft 23 is turned so as to move the crankar'nrQet inthe direction of the arrow, as shown in Fig. 2, thus moving the links 19 a-nd21 to the- ;left and swinging the bell crank lever. 18 aboutits pivot, which is the hub 17 This movement will disengage the shoulders 31 of. the levers 26" from saidlhub and-permit the. parts to *move to the position shown in Fig. 3, -when the adjacent. pivoted ends of the links; lfl-and 21 will rest upon-said hub. It will 'be apparent from an inspection of the clrawing's that owing. to the particular arrangement and construction of parts" it will only be'necessa-ry to give the 'crank arm "24approximately athird of a revolution'in -tion where .the doors 12 will be entirely. .open. [When itis desired to close the doors,

order to permit the parts to move to a posi-' ctheoperating handle is rotated in' an opposite direction from that just described which will .cause the. parts to move in the direction ofthe arrow-s shown in' Fig. 3.

I claim:. v t

1. In agondolac'ar, the combination of sills, doors arranged on :each side thereof,

a rotatable supporting member mounted in said sills, I connections between said doors and supporting member adapted to be sup-- ported on. the latter when the doors are c*osed, an'd means including a crank arm '--adapted to be givenapproximately a thlrd of a. revolution whereby to disengage said connections from saidsuppOrting member to" open said doors. I

4, 2. In a ondola car, the combination of sills, doors, arranged on each side thereof, a rotatable member carried by said sills,

substantially Z-shapedsupporting levers I connected to'said doors and having intermediate portions adapted for supporting said levers on saldrotatable member to retain saiddoors in closed position, and means including an oscillatory element for disengaging said supporting. members from said rotatable member to open said doors.

3. In a gondola car, the comblnation of sills, doors arranged on each side thereof,

.arotatable membercarried by said sills,

supporting members connected to said rotatable. member. and said doors and havmg curved portions adapted for engagement 'cranklever and to said doors, each of said levershaving a cu'rvediportion adapted to with. said rotatable member to retain said' engage said hub forsupporting said doors ina closed-position, and means connected to said-bell crank'lever for rotating said hub to disengage said supporting levers therefrom to open said door.

5'. In a gondola car, the combination of sills, doors arranged; on 'each'side thereof, a rotatable. hub mounted transversely of said. sills, a bell crank lever carried by said hub, "supporting levers connected to said bell crank lever and to said doors, each of said levers having a curved portion adapted to engage said hub for supporting said-doors in a closed position, and link connections pivoted tosaid bellcrank lever and adapted to be operated to disengage said supporting levers from said hub whereby saiddoors are opened.

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